WWE Objections Reportedly Caused ESPN To Drop Letter Grades From Show Reviews

WWE presented its first premium live event on ESPN's new app, well ahead of schedule, in September with the first-ever Wrestlepalooza. The event didn't turn out to be as big of a success as both WWE and ESPN presumably wanted, and in the days following, a review of the show, written by an ESPN combat sports reporter, made headlines due to the low grade given to the show overall. According to a new report, WWE objections caused ESPN to drop the letter grades from its show reviews.

According to POST Wrestling, multiple sources said that ESPN put a stop to the letter grades on its reviews of PLEs following objections by WWE. Dave Meltzer first reported that WWE had gotten the grades "killed" in last week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer wrote that someone on WWE's side of the deal confirmed it to him.

While it may seem trivial, POST noted that WWE reportedly influencing the editorial practices of its partner, ESPN, is the bigger issue. Reporter Andreas Hale gave Wrestlepalooza a "C" grade. In October, he gave Crown Jewel a "B." In Hales' following reviews of WWE PLEs, a letter grade has been missing from both the individual matches and the overall event itself. POST noted that Hale's reviews of UFC events continue to use letter grades.

In yet another important note, POST wrote in its report that since Hale's Wrestlepalooza review, ESPN's various digital reporters have not published a new story with original comments from WWE talent. There have seemingly been no issues with talent appearing on the broadcast side for ESPN, however.

A source told POST that the move was ESPN's alone. An official ESPN spokesperson declined to comment on the report, however. WWE also did not respond to a request for comment from the outlet.